# Google New Grad Software Engineer (L3) Interview Experience Aced (formerly Exponent) publishes a public search API over its indexed pages; the guide is at https://www.aced.io/agents/agent-access. Source: https://www.aced.io/experiences/google-software-engineer-interview-54740a Source observed: 2026-11-05T00:49:32.767Z Last checked: 2026-11-05T00:49:32.767+00:00 Indexed: 2026-11-07T03:07:24.639+00:00 --- # Google New Grad Software Engineer (L3) Interview Experience We publish interview preparation material through Aced, formerly Exponent. This verified interview experience concerns a Google entry-level/L3 Software Engineer candidate in the United States. The experience was submitted six months before the page observation dated 2026-11-05; the page itself was updated seven days before that observation by Google candidates. - **Result:** Rejected - **Interview date:** 9 months before the page observation - **Timespan:** 3 months - **Difficulty:** Moderate - **Verification:** Verified, United States - **Interview guide:** [Google Software Engineer (SWE) Interview Guide](https://www.aced.io/guides/google-software-engineer-interview) - **Related collections:** [50 interview experiences](https://www.aced.io/guides/google-software-engineer-interview/experiences), [214 questions](https://www.aced.io/guides/google-software-engineer-interview/questions), and [250 resumes](https://www.aced.io/guides/google-software-engineer-interview/resumes) ![Google logo](https://exponent-static.s3.amazonaws.com/company_logos/google.png) ## Candidate overview > One of my onsite interviewers pasted a prompt that was basically one sentence long and then just sat back. That round made it click for me that Google was testing how I clarified and structured the problem, not whether I could speedrun a DSA coding problem. ## Interview process The candidate entered through a referral and therefore did not have a recruiter screen. After applying around the end of September, they heard back in mid-November. The process then included: 1. Two 45-minute virtual interviews in December: one technical and one googliness/behavioral. 2. Confirmation within the week that the virtual stage was passed. 3. About one month of preparation. 4. An onsite in mid-January with two additional 45-minute technical interviews. The coding questions felt more customized than standard LeetCode questions. The candidate felt Google focused on problem clarification, communication, and reasoning toward a solution. The candidate completed the full loop but was rejected. Initial feedback arrived quickly, while the final decision took about three weeks. Interview process labels were **Technical interview**, **Other**, and **Final round**. ## Interview rounds The experience contains **7 questions across 3 rounds**. ### Technical interview — 1 question **Overview:** The first 45-minute technical interview took place in a shared Google Doc without a compiler. The interviewer generally let the candidate lead, intervening when needed, then pressed on line-by-line dry runs, complexity, and understanding of the submitted code. **Question types:** [Coding](https://www.aced.io/questions?type=coding), [Data Structures & Algorithms](https://www.aced.io/questions?type=algorithms), and [Technical](https://www.aced.io/questions?type=technical). **Specific coding question:** [Given an array of strings, return groups of “buddy strings,” where the strings have the same length and the distance between corresponding characters is the same.](https://www.aced.io/questions/6356) **Follow-up questions:** - Can you dry run your code line by line on an example? - What are the time and space complexities? - If you had more time, what improvements would you make? - Are you sure this Python ASCII built-in works the way you expect? The candidate approached the problem as a hashmap/string problem, grouping strings by their character-distance pattern. Because the shared document did not execute code, the candidate created an example and manually dry-ran the solution line by line. They then explained time and space complexity, discussed their understanding of the Python ASCII-related built-in, and described making the solution more modular with additional time. ### Other — 4 questions The candidate describes a 45-minute session with a senior interviewer. Questions were mostly open-ended, included a short follow-up near the end, and involved substantial pushback on tradeoffs. - **Question:** How would you improve a product you use every day for a new market? - **Candidate approach:** Pick a segment first, size it, compare three options, then choose one option and define its success metric. ### Final round The candidate describes another 45-minute session with a senior interviewer. It was mostly open-ended, included a short follow-up near the end, and involved substantial pushback on tradeoffs. - **Question:** How would you improve a product you use every day for a new market? - **Candidate approach:** Pick a segment first, size it, compare three options, then choose one option and define its success metric. ## Interview tips Practice out loud with a timer, keep a framework ready for every round, and ask the recruiter what each interviewer focuses on so examples can be tailored accordingly. ## Company culture The candidate experienced collaborative interviewers who repeatedly directed discussion toward the user. The team appeared to value structured thinking over polish, and interviewers left time for questions at the end. ## Access and participation The full experience is part of Aced's member content. We offer access to the rest of this interview and new experiences added weekly through [Become a member](https://www.aced.io/upgrade?src=experience). Candidates can also [Share your experience](https://www.aced.io/questions/contribute?src=experience). A **24-hour trial starts once a submission is approved**. ## More Google interview experiences - [Software Engineer (L4) — Google, Apr 2026](https://www.aced.io/experiences/google-software-engineer-interview-597223?returnPath=%2Fguides%2Fgoogle-software-engineer-interview%2Fexperiences): Verified; 6 rounds and 11 questions. The candidate describes a senior interviewer who discussed algorithms and derived distributed merge sort from first principles rather than opening a LeetCode prompt. - [Software Engineer Intern — Google, Sep 2025](https://www.aced.io/experiences/google-software-engineer-intern-interview-1cee6e?returnPath=%2Fguides%2Fgoogle-software-engineer-interview%2Fexperiences): Verified; 4 rounds and 3 questions. The candidate describes a five-minute online assessment intended to take 90 minutes and emphasizes interaction with the interviewer and the inability to run code. - [Software Engineer — Google, Oct 2026](https://www.aced.io/experiences/google-software-engineer-interview-ba8642?returnPath=%2Fguides%2Fgoogle-software-engineer-interview%2Fexperiences): 2 rounds and 2 questions. The candidate describes being rejected after struggling during C++ implementation and recommends writing working code and checking test cases. Browse [all 50 Google Software Engineer interview experiences](https://www.aced.io/guides/google-software-engineer-interview/experiences). --- [Read this page’s summary](https://www.aced.io/agents/api/public/v1/page-tldr?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aced.io%2Fexperiences%2Fgoogle-software-engineer-interview-54740a&trace=t_679ff9ab98f3) ## Ask a follow-up about this page Need a more specific answer? Ask the exact question you have. 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